Skylights are used to illuminate buildings in a pleasing and energy-conserving way. Tubular skylights such as those made by the present assignee typically have a roof-mounted transparent cover or dome, a light conveying tube assembly extending down from the dome into the building to a ceiling, and a light diffuser plate covering the bottom of the tube at the ceiling.
To mount the dome on the roof, a flashing typically is provided. The flashing may have a flat skirt that is inclined to match the incline of the roof, and a cylindrical turret extending vertically upward from the skirt. The dome is fastened to the turret, with the tube assembly also engaging the turret to establish a single continuous light passageway through the dome and down into the tube assembly.
Many roofs are tiled. To install a skylight, some of the tiles typically are removed to expose the flat roof substrate, and the skirt of the flashing is then positioned over a hole that is cut into the roof substrate. The tiles are then replaced around the flashing.
The present invention is an improvement to prevent subsequent water leakage from the upper tile surface around the flashing/tile penetration down onto the roof substrate. Previous solutions include placing three or four rectangular pieces of board or other material to fill the gap between the tile penetration and cylindrical turret. While such an arrangement is not without utility, as recognized herein in the context of tubular skylights (and, concomitantly, round flashing turrets), placing several rectangular pieces around a round hole will result in incomplete coverage through which water can flow. Moreover, the present invention recognizes that the previous use of lead pieces, used because of its malleability such that it can be conformed by hand around the tops of the lower tiles, entails structural and health risks. The present invention still further understands that rectangular multi-layer corrugated sealing pieces such as are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,503,601 not only fail to account for the above-noted geometric mismatch between tubular skylights and rectangular sealing pieces, but also require comparatively elaborate multi-layer construction.